New Patents Hint That Amazon and Google Each Have Plans to Compete with Uber

The tech giants both want a slice of the ride-hailer’s automated taxi and trucking vision, and they have their own ideas to prove it.

Uber appears to be leading the charge to develop autonomous taxis and delivery vehicles. But a pair of patents show that tech giants like Amazon and Google have no intention of being left behind.

Both patents were only recently published, but both were originally filed in 2015. That means that although Uber has been making headlines for many of its innovations over the past 12 months, other companies haven’t necessarily been slouching.

While Google is already trialing a small ride-sharing service in San Francisco, one of the new patents describes how it plans to pair self-driving vehicles with ride-hailing apps. The problem it tries to overcome: how to negotiate a pickup location if an autonomous car can’t safely or accurately navigate to the passenger like a human driver could.

Meanwhile, a patent filed by Amazon describes a way for autonomous vehicles to cope with reversible lanes, where traffic flow changes direction based on demand. It’s a road management trick used to optimize relatively narrow roadways, but it could confuse self-driving vehicles if they weren’t somehow aware of the changes.

Amazon's solution to the problem isn’t as interesting as what it means for the company itself. Some rumors have swirled in the past that the e-tailer has been working on its own self-driving vehicle plans. Such a direction would certainly dovetail nicely with its overarching vision, to take on more of its own delivery logistics. The new patent adds weight to the speculation.

Uber, then, has publicly embraced self-driving vehicles heavily, making it appear to be at the forefront of the race to automate the ferrying of goods and people. But it looks like it may yet have some serious competition to shrug off in the longer term.

Jamie CondliffeI’m the editor of news and commentary for MIT Technology Review. I put together our daily e-mail newsletter, The Download, from my base in London before everyone in the U.S. manages to wake up. I previously worked at New Scientist and Gizmodo, and I hold a PhD in engineering science from Oxford University.